Health Care and Social Services

Public Health Nurse – a promoter of public health

Do you want to study in Finland to become a Registered Nurse and a Public Health Nurse?

As a Public Health Nurse, you can promote the health, functional capacity, and well-being of people and families of different ages in a wide range of areas. You know the field's theory and nursing practices, and how to apply them in varying client situations. You can identify clients and their families who are part of risk groups. You support and help them and guide them to the necessary help resources. 

As a Public Health Nurse, your future job opportunities will be wide. You can work with individuals and families while promoting the health of the entire population. Additionally, as a Registered Nurse, you can work in all areas of medical care.

To work as a nurse in Finland, you must learn the Finnish language. The main language of your studies is English, but we provide several Finnish language courses during your studies. In addition to this, our big student community and clinical practice placements offer you a good opportunity to practice the Finnish language. 

Feel free to join our big community of international students and acquire wide-ranging skills for the duties of a future Public Health Nurse!

Where can graduates work?

Based on theoretical learning and clinical training, a Public Health Nurse is a versatile expert in public health nursing, general nursing, and preventive health care. The bachelor's degree programme in Public Health Nursing qualifies you to work as a Registered Nurse (RN) and a Public Health Nurse throughout the European Union.

You can work, for example, in maternity and children's counselling, health care for school-aged children and adolescents, occupational health care, or home nursing care. You can also apply for nursing positions in both public and private medical care units and organisations. The education provides excellent skills for working abroad and the opportunity to work as an entrepreneur.

Job requirements for public health nurses

As a public health nurse, you must know how to act independently and collaborate with multidisciplinary and multi-professional teams. At work, you must be ready to make independent decisions based on researched information and treatment instructions.

Working as a public health nurse requires sufficient mental and physical health, and functional ability because you face changing situations in your work and are responsible for patient safety.

What do the studies include?

As a public health nursing student at LAB University of Applied Sciences, you will develop your professional skills, building upon existing knowledge. LAB's nurse training emphasises strong practical skills and patient safety, which are strengthened throughout the programme in our modern simulation centre. The scope of the studies is 240 ECTS credits.

• Common studies 13 ECTS
• Professional core competence 82 ECTS
• Clinical training 80 ECTS
• Complementary studies (public health nursing) 50 ECTS
• Thesis 15 ECTS

During the first year of study, you will familiarise yourself with safe and ethical nursing practices through theoretical learning, practical exercises, and real customer and patient situations. Additionally, you will enhance your information acquisition and communication skills. Theoretical studies are in English. Finnish and English are used in clinical training.

Clinical training

A large part of Registered Nurse and Public Health Nurse studies is clinical training in a genuine nursing environment. You will do clinical practice in hospitals, sheltered housing, schools, mental health services, maternity clinics, etc. During the clinical training, you will gain skills for promoting equality in work with individuals and work communities. Clinical training requires you to study full-time. 

You may not be able to find all your clinical placements in Lappeenranta. You might need to move to another city for a few weeks. These costs are not included in the academic year fee, so you must pay them yourself.

Paramedic nurse – an expert in acute health care 

Paramedic nurses can recognise and anticipate situations that threaten a patient's life and know how to act as required by the situation. With non-urgent first aid tasks, paramedics assess the patient's need for service and care, plan follow-up care, and refer the patient to appropriate care.

The studies are based on researched knowledge, which ensures the necessary theoretical and practical nursing skills. At LAB University of Applied Sciences, nurse training focuses on strong clinical expertise and patient safety, which is reinforced throughout our studies in our modern simulation centre.

To work in health care and social services in Finland, you must learn the Finnish language. While the main language of your studies is English, you will take several Finnish language courses. The LAB community offers strong support in learning Finnish.

Students must hold a valid driving licence

Students on the Paramedic Nurse degree programme need a valid driving licence during their studies and to work in an ambulance after graduation. International students who already hold a driving licence from their home country can exchange it for a Finnish licence within 2 years of arrival. For more information, see the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) page.

Where can graduates work?

Most often, paramedic nurses work as care-level paramedics in ambulances. You can also work in various nursing and emergency care specialist positions that require basic or special skills.

Paramedic nurses can work in primary health care, specialist nursing, outpatient emergency care, social care, and private and third-sector services both in Finland and abroad. Paramedic nurses can also work in the private sector as employees or entrepreneurs, for example, in ambulances. As a paramedic, you can also work as a team leader.

Students from the Bachelor of Health Care, Paramedic Nurse degree programme will also receive a Bachelor of Health Care (Nursing), which will expand career opportunities for various nursing positions.

Job requirements for paramedic nurses

The job requires pressure tolerance and the readiness to act consistently even in difficult and unexpected situations. In addition, good physical and mental workability is required at work.

A paramedic must be able to work both independently and as part of a multi-professional team. Paramedics are able to make independent decisions based on researched information and care guidelines.

What do the studies include?

Studies include theoretical and practical training; the practical part of the education takes place in varying and multidisciplinary areas of health care. Our modern health care labs and simulation environment enable the development of skills, knowledge, and decision-making abilities together with lecturers, experts, and fellow multicultural students. Flexible e-learning possibilities are also employed. The scope of the studies is 240 ECTS credits.

• Core competence 15 ECTS  
• Professional core competence 100 ECTS  
• Complementary competence 35 ECTS  
• Clinical training 75 ECTS  
• Thesis 15 ECTS  

Progress in studies accumulates competence

In the first study year, you will become acquainted with safe and ethical nursing in theory, practical exercises, and the right client and patient situations. In addition, you will strengthen your knowledge acquisition and communication skills.

As your studies progress, you will learn a variety of skills needed in clinical work. At the end of the second academic year, an assessment of basic paramedic skills is held, and after that, you can apply for summer work as a basic-level paramedic.

During the last two years, you will study more about paramedics and special issues in nursing, such as childcare, emergency care, and intensive care. The main emphasis is on paramedic studies, cooperation with authorities, and situation management in emergency care.

At the end of your studies, you will complete a nationwide paramedic exam and demonstrate your skills in simulated emergency care situations.

Master's studies for engineering and social and health care professionals

The interdisciplinary degree programme in Technological Transformation Leadership aims to develop strategic leaders capable of integrating technology with business processes and with organisational processes in social and health care.

The programme emphasises ethical leadership and the societal impacts of technology, including considerations specific to IoT and AI, such as data privacy, security, and ethical AI deployment for engineering students, and data privacy, security, and ethical AI deployment in social and health care for social and health care students.

These studies also provide an excellent opportunity to improve spoken and written English skills and network with students from across different business sectors and nationalities.

Work experience requirements

Applicants must, in addition to the required educational background, have gained at least two years (24 months) of subsequent work experience in a relevant field after the completion of the bachelor's degree, in order to meet the eligibility criteria.

Leading roles in technology and social and health care

Upon completion, graduates will be able to lead technology initiatives, execute strategic plans, manage projects and innovations, and address ethical considerations in technology transformation, including those related to AI, and, in addition, for engineering graduates, IoT as well.

Gaining skills and capabilities for developing a technological transformation leadership approach to the working environment helps our graduates expand their professional opportunities and bridge gained knowledge and know-how with the future operational environment. 

Students in the programme can immediately apply their attained skills and know-how in their workplace. Many of the graduates capitalise on new opportunities either within their current organisation or in new professional careers.

What do the studies include?

The studies contain challenging independent work, online group work, and online studies to accommodate students’ professional and personal lives. The studies are rigorously intensive but manageable.

Teaching days for core studies are usually limited to 2 to 4 online days per month. The study days for complementary competence studies depend on the courses you choose to study. Students can also choose elective master’s level courses from other universities.

For engineering students, the scope of the studies is 60 ECTS credits, and the duration of the programme is 1 year. For social and health care students, the scope of the studies is 90 ECTS credits, and the duration of the programme is 2 years. 

For engineering students:

• core competence 15 ECTS
• complementary competence 15 ECTS
• master's thesis 30 ECTS

Engineering students can construct their degrees focusing either on technological transformation leadership or IoT through AI. Topics covered can include, for example, leadership and change management, technology strategy, and data-driven decision making. Additionally, the programme addresses emerging issues in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), preparing students to navigate and leverage these technologies effectively.

For social and health care students:

• core competence 35 ECTS
• complementary competence 25 ECTS
• master's thesis 30 ECTS

Topics covered in the studies can include, for example, leadership and change management, health and wellbeing technologies, and knowledge management.

Studies for redesigning emergency care

Health care crises have made it clear that our emergency care systems and acute care pathways are experiencing a fundamental change in perspective. The need for major systemic change is evident, for both better person-centred care and the well-being of our health care professionals.

To ensure evidence-based, goal-directed development and meaningful change in emergency care systems, our objective is to educate future experts, leaders, and researchers with advanced competencies, diverse perspectives, and understanding of systems integrations, safety science, staff well-being, and person-centred emergency care systems at both practical and systems levels.

Work experience requirements

All applicants must, in addition to the required educational background, have at least two years (24 months) of relevant work experience gained after the completion of the bachelor's degree in order to meet the eligibility criteria. 

Work at the forefront of redesigning emergency care systems

We need to redesign emergency care as a system. It is necessary to integrate care pathways and existing services, develop new clinical advancements, reshape professional roles, and break old systemic and work cultural barriers within emergency care, such as roles between prehospital acute care, out-of-hospital community paramedicine, and emergency departments. 

The treatment of acute and critical patients is often volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments must be safe, person-centred, and of the highest quality in the future while also addressing the increasing complexity of subacute patient profiles. Therefore, its continuous development requires long-term goals and rigorous processes to succeed and be effective.

We further need to make emergency care work manageable. By breaking silos and disciplinary boundaries and going beyond the scopes of familiar practices, we are sharing new knowledge and further understanding of the complexity, variety, and diversity of work in emergency care systems. 

We will explore how human-environment work can be further developed to be more sustainable and safer, utilizing, among others, translational simulations and design for psychologically safe work cultures. The goal is to make emergency care systems manageable and sustainable for all health care professionals.

What do the studies include?

The degree comprises 90 ECTS credits. The studies are taught entirely in English and are completed entirely online. The coursework includes assignments and lectures (online). Participation in online lectures is not mandatory but recommended. The degree contains the following three main modules:

• core competences (30 ECTS credits)
• elective complementary studies* (15 ECTS credits)
• research methods and master's thesis (15+30 ECTS credits).

*Elective complementary studies can be chosen from available master’s courses at LAB University of Applied Sciences or Arcada University of Applied Sciences, or from courses available at other institutions providing master’s level courses.

Learning outcomes

As a student in this programme, you will learn:

1. to analyse and evaluate the effectiveness and quality of emergency care interventions and systems and to develop systems thinking and person centredness in emergency care settings;
2. to support, develop, and enable sustainable human work in emergency care environments by evaluating the opportunities and challenges of future digital solutions for emergency care systems;
3. to evaluate and develop safety science-based interventions in emergency care to ensure high patient and occupational safety in a complex environment by evaluating opportunities and challenges in different emergency care systems.